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The Cable that changed the World
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The Transatlantic Cable - the cable that changed the World
Mary Rose Stafford – Munster Technological University & Valentia Transatlantic Cable Foundation
Part 1. The role Valentia Island played in global communications
Valentia Island — where history speaks, and the future listen - the story that continues to inspire innovation and connection across the globe.
Part 2. Ireland & Canada
Transatlantic Cable Ensemble
UNESCO World Heritage designation
13 October 2025
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Contact: info@valentiacable.com
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Part 1. The role Valentia Island played in global communications
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1850:
Sir, one day you can tax it….
Michael Faraday to a sceptical William Gladstone, then British Chancellor of the Exchequer about the probability of use of electricity.
1835
“If the presence of electricity can be made visible in any part of the circuit, I see no reason why intelligence may not be transmitted instantaneously by electricity”
Samuel Morse, American Painter and Inventor
1861: Only 17 years after Morse developed his code, the telegraph network spanned as far as California across the US.
1861 – 1865 the American Civil War. The news of Lincoln’s assignation takes 12 days to reach London.
13 October 2025
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1856: The first attempt fails
1858: Second attempt. Cable successfully laid. Major celebrations as Anglo worlds are connected BUT cable fails within a month.
1866: The fourth attempt, using the world’s largest ship, the “Great Eastern” , is a success and the time for transatlantic communication is reduced from 2 weeks to 2 minutes – a precursor to today’s internet
13 October 2025
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The Slate Yard, site of the first message in 1858
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“The Queen is convinced that the President will join with her in fervently hoping that the electric cable, which now connects Great Britain with the United States, will prove an additional link between the two places whose friendship is founded upon their common interests and reciprocal esteem."
Queen Victoria
“ May the Atlantic Telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument designed by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilization, liberty and law throughout the world “
President James Buchanan
13 October 2025
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“Since the discovery of Columbus nothing has been done in any degree comparable to the vast enlargement which has thus been given to the sphere of human activity. The Atlantic Telegraph has undone the declaration of 1776 and has gone far to make us once again one people”
The London Times 1858
“ I can imagine a poor mother in the west of Ireland … sitting on the furthest crag that juts into the Atlantic, no longer contemplating that waste of water as a desolate wilderness which separates her from those she loves, but as a means of instant communication with them “
Cardinal Wiseman, Catholic primate of England, in his speech honouring Charles Bright, chief engineer, at Dublin’s Mansion House, 1858
13 October 2025
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US Capitol Rotunda- the apotheosis of Washington - 1866
13 October 2025
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Part 2. Ireland & Canada
Transatlantic Cable Ensemble
UNESCO World Heritage designation
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
1248 sites in 170 state parties
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Italy 61
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Belgium 16
Denmark 12
Netherlands 13
13 October 2025
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Ireland’s World Heritage Sites
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13 October 2025
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World Heritage Nomination
“Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations”.
‘For Everyone Forever’
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13 October 2025
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�The Gathering 2013�
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‘Transatlantic Communications and Light Gathering’
Perfect Storm - Gillespie – Buffum - Field – Stafford – Curran – O’Connell - Fitzgerald
13 October 2025
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Knights Town
Ensemble of Trans-Atlantic Cable Sites on Valentia Island
1 – Slate Yard, 1857-1859
(First Message)
2 – Cable Station, 1868-1966
3 – Cable Field, 1865-1868
Valentia Island
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The Slate Yard, site of the first message in 1858
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March 2024
April 2025
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The Cable Station and Houses at Knightstown, 1868
13 October 2025
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Foilhommerum Bay, the Great Eastern Departs in 1865
13 October 2025
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13 October 2025
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Valentia Transatlantic Cable Foundation Board 2016
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The ‘Valentia Lecture’ Series 2017 - 2025
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2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
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The Valentia Lecture 2025
Ireland’s place in the world of 2040
With 30 in their 30’s ..
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On July 21st 2022, we warmly welcomed the announcement from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, TD, and Minister of State with Responsibility for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD of the inclusion of the Transatlantic Cable Project on the Irish UNESCO World Heritage tentative list.
Currently working towards formal inscription as a transatlantic project, together with Canada, in 2029
Pathway to UNESCO nomination
Ongoing
-community engagement
-awareness building
-collaboration with Hearts Content
-fundraising for renovation
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M1
L3
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L5
L6
L7
L8
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M2
L10
Board Room/Video
Community
Bespoke Venue for
-Conferences
-Board Meetings
-Workshops
Contact: info@valentiacable.com
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The “8th Wonder” Exhibit opens at the Cable Station, July 2022
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The Cable that changed the World